NEW DELHI: A total of around 25 films including sixteen features – among them the opening film Haraamkhor by Shlok Sharma and several shorts including the acclaimed Jai Ho on maestro AR Rahman by Delhi-based filmmaker Umesh Aggarwal are being screened at the ongoing 13th annual Indian Film Festival of Los Angeles.
The Festival which started on 8 April will go on till 12 April at the ArcLight Hollywood.
Starring Nawazuddin Siddiqui, the opening film has been produced by Anurag Kashyap known for many acclaimed films including The Gangs of Wasseypur and Guneet Monga of the Lunchbox fame.
The closing film is Dhanak, a coming-of-age film directed by Nagesh Kukunoor, and the centerpiece film is the British comedy One Crazy Thing directed by Amit Gupta. The movie stars Ray Panthaki and Daisy Bevan and centers on a man struggling to overcome the notoriety from his sex tape.
Actor-producer Abhay Deol has been included in the jury and the other narrative jury members are filmmaker Sean Baker, HFPA member and frequent Board director Yoram Kahana, Warner Bros executive vice president (Physical Production) Ravi Mehta, and author and film curator Berenice Reynaud.
The shorts jury includes actor Danny Pudi, Outfest director of programming Lucy Mukerjee-Brown, Sundance Shorts programmer Lisa Ogdie, and Universal manager of the Emerging Writers Fellowship Heather Morris Washington.
Aditya Vikram Sengupta's debut feature Labour Of Love following one day in the life of a married couple is also being screened.
Other highlights are Danis Tanovic’s Tigers, Cannes entry Titli by Kanu Behl and the Los Angeles premiere of Miss India America.
The films, including four world premieres, seven North American bows, two American and 10 Los Angeles preems from not just India, but also the US, the United Kingdom, France, Germany and Cuba, in 10 languages including English, Spanish and German.
Tanovic’s Tigers stars Emraan Hashmi and is about the true-life tale of the salesman who took on a drug company that marketed a deadly baby formula.
Titli is a coming-of-age story starring Shashank Arora; while Miss India America stars Tiya Sircar (The Internship) and Hannah Simone (New Girl) in the story of a woman who enters a beauty pageant after losing her boyfriend to a former Miss India America.
Apart from the films, there will be an Emerging Writers Program designed to identify and cultivate new and unique voices with a passion for storytelling. Talented screenwriters who have the potential to thrive, but do not have access to or visibility within the industry are taking part. Writers chosen for the programme will work exclusively with the NBC Universal studio for one year to hone their skills.
